Tissue, being largely water or fat, does not maintain its shape. In consequence, positional reference of a tissue that has been removed, vis a vis its position and orientation in vivo, is nearly impossible. Yet at times, preserving the positional reference is highly desirable. For example, where a biopsy sample is taken, and only a portion of it is found cancerous, the positional reference is necessary, to determine where the cancerous tissue in the body may be. Similarly, where a lump of cancerous tissue is removed, without a margin of healthy tissue around it, i.e., without a “clean margin”, thus indicating that some cancerous tissue may have been left in the body, the positional reference is necessary, to correlate the orientation of the removed tissue specimen with the body tissue.
Today, any one of two methods may be used for marking the orientation of the removed tissue. The first is known as the suture method. A surgeon marks a lateral edge of the removed tissue specimen with a long suture and a superior edge of the removed tissue specimen with a short suture. Yet, this method is inaccurate, as it is affected by changes in the removed tissue specimen during handling and transportation.
The second method is known as inking. The surgeon uses six colors of ink to mark the six faces of the removed tissue specimen. This method is rather demanding and involves much handling of the removed tissue specimen. Handling may be undesirable when the removed tissue specimen is yet to undergo pathological examinations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,857, to Ritchart, et al., entitled, “Methods and devices for collection of soft tissue,” provides a tissue sampling system for breast biopsies, intraoperative staging, laparoscopic surgery, lymphadenectomy and other procedures. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,497, to Huitema, entitled, “Surgical biopsy device,” describes a biopsy probe for the collection of a soft tissue.
In these devices, the positional reference may be maintained through a rigid connection between a cutting tool and a carrying frame. However, where the tissue is first cut then transported to a carrying frame, the positional reference may be lost.
A device and method for transporting tissue while maintaining its positional reference, in a reliable manner, is desired.